The administration of US President Donald Trump has imposed a fresh round of sanctions on a number of Iranian individuals and entities affiliated with the Islamic Republic’s oil sector, including Minister of Oil Bijan Zangeneh.
The US Treasury Department made the announcement in a statement on Monday, saying the sanctions targeted eight officials and entities as well as the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC).
The British-based companies of Madanipour, Mobin Holding Limited and Oman Fuel Trading Ltd were also blacklisted.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Washington was slapping sanctions on “key actors” in Iran’s oil sector for what he claimed was supporting the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), which has already been blacklisted.
The Treasury also said that four of the individuals were accused of being involved in the recent sale of Iranian gasoline to the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Under the imposed sanctions, as the statement said, all the property and interests in possession of these persons would be blocked, and US citizens would be prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.
Zanganeh: Sanctions sign of failure of Washington's policy
In a tweet later on Monday, Iran's oil minister reacted to new US sanctions, saying that imposition of new bans "is a passive reaction to the failure of Washington's policy of reducing [Iran's] crude oil exports to zero."
Zanganeh said he has "no assets outside of Iran to be subject to the sanctions," emphasizing that "Iran's oil industry will not be hamstrung" by US sanctions.
The US, under Trump, unleashed a so-called maximum pressure campaign against Iran in 2018, when it unilaterally left the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Skillful Technocrat
Zanganeh is a veteran of Iran’s oil sector and widely seen as a skillful technocrat who shepherded the Islamic Republic’s revival within OPEC after the 2015 nuclear deal. He is also one of President Hassan Rouhani’s most moderate aides.
The architect of the Iranian oil industry’s post-sanctions recovery, Zanganeh helped secure several multibillion dollar joint-ventures with foreign investors, including France’s Total SA and China National Petroleum Corp., before the Trump era abruptly ended Iran’s tentative economic recovery.
Since Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran and sought to cut the country’s oil sales to zero, Zanganeh has maintained a strict policy of not publicly discussing Iranian output and production levels and has frequently condemned the U.S. for trying to directly influence and intervene in OPEC policy and decision-making.